Unanswered Questions
339 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Was the Chasam Sofer known for having an interesting way of learning?
I have a lot of experience learning Gemara and find myself oft dealing with the views of the Achronim to understand the Pshat in Rishonim. Unfortunately, I have inside me a slight aversion to the ...
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Who authored the 13 Ani Maamin's?
The Rambam in his Hakdama to his Pirush on Perek Chelek in Mesechtas Sanhedrin mentions the points of belief a Jew must have. To the best of my knowledge these are the basis of the well-known ...
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Baalei Batim and Daf Yomi versus Learning Halachah
Today, many baalei batim center their learning around gemara bavli, for example through programs like daf yomi. But the Drisha and Shach write that for those who aren't learning all day it's more ...
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The Alter Rebbe's view of reviewing Torah - is it followed in practice?
Related: comment thread in What should a Jew learn regularly?
In the end of the Shulchan Aruch Harav Yoreh Deah, chelek ה, the Alter Rebbe has a wonderful exposition on the laws of Talmud Torah. In ...
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Finding a chiddush of the Brisker Rov
This question has a bit of an introduction to it.
Rav Shlomo Lorincz wrote a biography of the Chazon Ish, the Brisker Rov and Rav Shach, called במחיצתם (translated by Yonason Rosenblum as “In Their ...
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Is learning Sifrei Neviim a fulfillment of the mitzvah to listen to a Navi?
There's a Torah commandment to listen to a navi. As far as I know, there are no neviim around nowadays to listen to, but we do have books written by the neviim.
If you learn Navi and do your best to ...
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Eliyahu HaNavi's role in Moshiach's arrival according to the Rambam
The Rambam says in Hilchos Malachim 12:2:
There are some Sages who say that Elijah's coming will precede the coming of the Mashiach. All these and similar matters cannot be definitely known by man ...
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Why does Mishneh Torah have Shem uMalchut for Yishtabach?
I was looking into the Seder haTefillot as well as other siddurim based on it, and something always bothered me about Birkat Yishtabach, which as most of you know "closes" the Pesuqei deZimra section ...
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Earliest source for teaching Torah in secret to hide from the Romans
A number of online sources (such as this article by Rabbi Ari Enkin, or this article by Rabbi Yair Hoffman) mention the tradition that rabbonim used to go out into the woods and teach Torah while ...
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Aryeh Kaplan and Talmud memorization
Aryeh Kaplan’s Jewish Meditation, page 27:
I recall that when I was in yeshivah, a few friends and I decided to have a contest to see who could memorize the most pages of Talmud. For me, it was an ...
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For the Sake of an Argument?
In the Mishna, Miqvaos 7:1, Rabbi Akiva quotes Rabbi Ishmael as having declared that snow does not count towards the completion of a mikva, but the people of Meibeba then testify that Rabbi Ishmael ...
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Source for Chazon Ish on What defines a Lamdan
I recently read an article and the author wrote the following:
"The Chazon Ish described the true lamdan as “someone who spends three hours preparing to deliver a five-minute shiur, and when he is ...
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What if one chos vishalom accidentally kills someone right before techias hameisim?
B"H
The Rambam in Hilchos rotzeiach 7:9-12 discuss how one who accidentally kills someone and is exiled to a city of refuge never leaves, until the Kohen Gadol passes away.
The question is, what ...
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Why isn't midrash rabbah learnt as much as other commentaries
I feel like there's more of a stress to learn other commentaries, and midrash rabbah and tanchuma are just nice things extra if you want to. I see amazing droshos in the midrash, and was wondering why ...
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How did the older Torah books look formatting wise?
I'm wondering what the sort of evolution of the Torah's syntactic / punctuation structure looks like. Were the books always divided into "books" with titles like Genesis (in Hebrew of course)? Were ...